Vivienne Westwood Hates on Michelle Obama, The Met and American Journalists

Vivienne Westwood isn't known for keeping her opinions to herself--the veteran designer has been outspoken about current events ranging from climate change to Julian Assange to Kate Middleton. And in a new interview with the New York Times' Eric Wilson, she sounds off on the Metropolitan Museum of Art, American journalists, and Michelle Obama--to name just a few. Read on for all the things that are annoying Dame Westwood lately.

Vivienne Westwood isn't known for keeping her opinions to herself--the veteran designer has been outspoken about current events ranging from climate change to Julian Assange to Kate Middleton. And in a new interview with the New York Times' Eric Wilson, she sounds off on the Metropolitan Museum of Art, American journalists, and Michelle Obama--to name just a few. Read on for all the things that are annoying Dame Westwood lately.

On being upset that the Metropolitan Museum of Art didn't take her V&A retrospective:

I’ll tell you the truth, not that it is a very good idea to tell the truth about things, but I was very cross with the Metropolitan Museum for not taking my retrospective. I think it’s ridiculous.

On American journalists:

I’m also rather bored with American journalists...You know, America is an isolated territory, with all those editors who think they are so powerful. Mostly, I think they are rubbish.

On fashion's ability to provoke, and the influence of stylists:

There’s such a communication of stylists. They weren’t very important once. The general public didn’t even know about them. They were paid very badly and worked for two weeks getting a shoot together and got a quarter of what the hair person got. Fashion has become so whatever. I don’t think there are any stones left to unturn.

On Michelle Obama:

Don’t talk about her. It’s dreadful what she wears....I don’t want to talk about it. Really, I can’t. She’s a very nice looking lady, but it’s a nonstarter regarding clothes that suit her.

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There was a bottleneck situation getting into the Vivienne Westwood show this morning, but we didn't mind standing outside for a bit because her shows really draw the street style, in the form of weird hats, lots of piercing, and a throwback punk or two. Westwood is beloved in London, and not just by the fashion crowd. No less than three cab drivers asked me excitedly if I had seen "Dame Vivienne's" show yet.
Well, today I did, and her collection was a bit quieter than usual.

Having just come from a punk-influenced House of Holland show, I felt primed for punk godmother Vivienne Westwood. While the appearance of Pamela Anderson in the front row felt slightly incongruous (though she’s a big fan), I was ready for some anarchy.
Westwood is well-known for embracing and publicizing pet charities, and this season’s was Cool Earth, an organization dedicated to saving the rain forest. I thought maybe I’d be looking at some eco-punk, but no. What I got was a collection of pieces that could go easily to work or out on a date. Strip away the cotton candy hair and theatrical multi-colored faces (done by makeup madwoman Alex Box), and you had a downright wearable collection of clothes. And I say that in a good way. Punk is dead, people. Westwood’s version of punk now manifests itself in the mishmash of looks--over 50 in this show--that she puts out.

From Westwood's punk-era Sex boutique in London with Malcolm McLaren in the '70s (which outfitted the Sex Pistols) to eventually designing Carrie Bradshaw's wedding gown in Sex and the City, saying she's had a fascinating career is an understatement.

There's been a lot of talk over the past few weeks about Vivienne Westwood's role in the punk style movement, thanks to the Met's upcoming Punk: Chaos to Couture exhibit. Today, though, we have news of a decidedly more commercial Westwood project: She just designed the new uniforms for Virgin Atlantic.